A MAMBLE woman is dreading the delivery of her next phone bill after being tricked into making a premium rate call by a phone company that told her she had won £7,000.

Tina Hobin contacted the Shuttle/Times and News because she said she did not want other people being "conned" into making premium rate calls.

The phone line Mrs Hobin called has since been shut down by the regulatory body for premium rate calls - ICSTIS - and her experience has prompted a warning from Worcestershire Trading Standards.

Mrs Hobin's experience started when she picked up a phone message from a company called Telecom Promotions, asking her to call them back.

When she returned the call - believing the company to be BT - she was told she "may have won a prize".

The 64-year-old, who recently featured in the Shuttle/Times & News when she released her first belly dancing DVD, said: "Normally, I'd just put the phone down but, for some reason, I stayed on the line.

"After at least 10 minutes they told me I'd won £7,000 and to send my details to an address in Bournemouth.

"Of course, I've heard nothing and when I phoned BT they said it was a scam."

Mrs Hobin has also contacted Trading Standards and West Mercia Constabulary but has been told it is unlikely she will ever see her alleged prize - or even successfully claim back the cost of her phone call.

An ICSTIS spokeswoman, Catherine Bell, told the Shuttle/Times & News that it had used an emergency procedure to close down the number on the Monday or Tuesday after the Easter weekend, when Mrs Hobin rang it, because it was deemed to be causing "immediate and serious harm to consumers".

She added the matter would be adjudicated on soon.

Trading standards spokeswoman, Charlotte Renshaw, added there were many companies operating phone scams nationally and warned readers to be on their guard.

"Basically, with anything like this where you're told to ring a number to claim a prize, if you haven't entered anything in the first place, then it's highly unlikely you'll have been selected for a prize because you don't get something for nothing," she said.